In 2023, the number of pet dogs in China will reach 51.75 million and the number of pet cats will reach 69.8 million, making it the second largest pet market in the world. During the Spring Festival, the demand for pet boarding market in various places grew rapidly.
Behind the hot demand for pet fostering, some foster care agencies have problems such as unreasonable fees, opaque management, and non-standard operations, which are frequently frequent, and pet owners are very headaches.
At present, there is no detailed industry standard for pet boarding services. Pet boarding services are special, the service content is difficult to unify, and there are many problems that may arise, so it is also difficult to formulate service standards. Relevant industry organizations and regulatory departments should combine the actual market situation, summarize various problems of pet fostering, and explore the establishment and improvement of industry standards and regulatory systems.
Before fostering, it is best for consumers to form a written agreement with the merchant to list in detail the services and charges received by the pet during the boarding period. If the merchant intends to add services to the pet during the boarding period, the consumer has the right to refuse to pay this part of the fee if the service is provided without the consent of the consumer.
The sun room, complete facilities, 24-hour special escort, so that your "hairy child" is more comfortable than staying at home......
Because she was going to go to other places for the New Year, Zhao Ran (pseudonym), a resident of Haidian, Beijing, looked for a foster place for her pet cat everywhere on the eve of the Spring Festival, and finally found a suitable one, but was shocked by the high ** - 500 yuan a day! "Why is it so expensive to board pets during the Chinese New Year? It's far beyond my ability to pay. ”
This Spring Festival holiday, there are not a few people who are troubled by pet fostering. Data shows that in 2023, the number of pet dogs in China will reach 51.75 million and the number of pet cats will reach 69.8 million, making it the second largest pet market in the world. During the Spring Festival, the demand for pet boarding market in various places grew rapidly. The reporter of "Rule of Law**" consulted more than 10 pet foster care agencies in Beijing on February 9 and found that only one institution still has foster care vacancies.
However, behind the hot demand for pet fostering, some foster care agencies have problems such as unreasonable fees, opaque management, and non-standard operations, which are frequently used, and pet owners are very headaches.
Why is there frequent chaos in the pet boarding industry? In the face of arbitrary charges, high charges, and semi-mandatory charges, how should consumers safeguard their legitimate rights and interests? Journalists investigated this.
Demand increases and a nest is hard to find
Foster Care **Significantly**
In Zhao Ran's heart, the cat is her good friend and family, and she decided to find an institution that can take good care of it during the Spring Festival. Before leaving, she searched for keywords such as "pet fostering", "cat fostering" and "Spring Festival fostering" on various apps, and a large number of pet foster agencies appeared.
Many businesses have told me that the seats are fully booked, or are about to be fully booked, and I need to make a decision within a day. Zhao Ran recalled, "Ask again, since February 5th, most businesses have opened the Spring Festival, and there are many, and one of the pet stores has a 'luxury room' priced at 600 yuan a day." ”
After learning about the specifications of the foster room, she was even more shocked: the standard room is a pet cabinet, a large row of cabinets lined up, and the space is not very large. When she told the merchant that the pet is usually free-range, the merchant suggested that she use the most luxurious pet cabinet, and have 3 times a day and a half hours of stocking "walking" time, cat food, canned cat food, cat litter and other daily necessities** are not included, bathing, beauty and other services** are not included.
In this way, it costs tens of thousands of yuan to foster a cat during the Spring Festival. Zhao Ran said that although it was difficult to accept, considering that the cat had nowhere to go, she could only grit her teeth and pay the fee.
Li Le (not his real name), who lives in Chaoyang, Beijing, had a similar experience. After some selection, she booked a pet boarding shop 3 kilometers away from her home half a month in advance. The store provides her two cats with a space of almost 1 meter in length, width and height, and the cat litter and cat food need to be brought by themselves, and the clerk adds food, water and shovels every day.
It costs 1,500 yuan for 8 days, which is enough to catch up with my living expenses for two months. In other words, it's more expensive than the house I rented. Li Le complained.
The reporter consulted more than 10 pet foster agencies and found that the foster location during the Spring Festival was indeed very compact. A pet boarding hotel in Beijing was fully booked at the end of December last year; Another staff member of the foster care agency said, "There are a total of 3 stores, and now the Guomao store and Wangjing store have been fully booked, and only the Chaoyang Joy City store has a few vacant seats, and you can help coordinate if you need it, but you need to decide as soon as possible"; There are also some institutions because of the booming business, during the Spring Festival only for members to provide services (in the store to buy pets is a member), when the reporter asked whether the store can be recharged to become a member, in the future in the store to buy pet supplies, the other party to "the Spring Festival is different from the usual off-season, the location is too tight" as the reason for refusal.
According to a member of a pet store in Chaoyang, Beijing, which provides high-end foster care services, during the Spring Festival this year, he chose a high-end foster room of about 10 square meters for his dog, which is not only taken care of around the clock, but also has an outdoor lawn where he can play, ** for 1,000 yuan a day. Because the Spring Festival foster care cannot enjoy the membership price, the cost is 1 on weekdaysAbout 5 times.
The reporter noticed that during the Spring Festival, the ** pet foster care was about 150% or even doubled that of weekday fostering, and most stores began to increase prices from a week before the Spring Festival. For example, some stores foster ** is 109 yuan per day on weekdays, and 159 yuan per day during the Spring Festival, and this is the most basic small cat cabinet foster **, each cat cabinet can put two cats, a room has 6 cat cabinets, cats can not get the sun.
A store pointed out in the notice, "Foster care is too popular during the Spring Festival, and there is no guarantee of the time and number of times the cat basks in the sun, but try to let each baby come out for half an hour every day." There are also some stores that claim that they will provide upgrade services during the Spring Festival, upgrading standard rooms to VIP rooms, deluxe rooms, etc., but **will** vary.
Foster care comes in many forms
The quality of service varies
According to the reporter's understanding, at present, pet foster care has pet hotels, foster parks, pet hospitals, pet shops, family foster care and other forms. Different foster care methods** have different foster care environments.
Different foster care agencies offer different features. If the pet shows signs of illness when it is delivered, only the pet hospital will accept it, and it will be managed according to the hospitalization**. Pet shops offer bathing and grooming services for a fee. Pet parks are generally located in the suburbs, with a large area and spacious activity venues. However, all foster care agencies need to check whether the vaccines are all in place before checking in, and they need to bring their own rations, snacks, toys, and cat litter.
In view of the foster pet is more timid and afraid of life, there may be stress and other phenomena, a pet store staff said that the store has a sun room configuration, that is, a room to place two cat cabinets, ** for 458 yuan per day, pet bathing, grooming needs to be charged, how much to charge depends on the size of the pet. The store also has a pet park (for pets to play and train on a daily basis), "the pet butler will take the baby to the park for free activities, and at the same time, the housekeeper will also play with the pet in the park, groom the pet, and interact with the pet."
If you buy a sun room, during the baby's foster care, after the state is stable, you can go to the pet park for about two hours every day to be alone. The above-mentioned staff member said.
According to the person in charge of a pet store in Huludao, Liaoning, it is difficult to unify the standards of foster care, which is related to the rent of the store and the specifications of the pet cabinet. During the Spring Festival, when the demand increases, the store** will be raised. In addition, foster care is directly proportional to the size of the space, and there is a big difference between a small cage and a large pet "villa".
A clerk at a pet store in downtown Shanghai told reporters: "Considering the activity space of pets, the size of the cage for fostering pets is generally three times the size of the pet's own body size. The clerk will have two ** calls with the dog owner every day, including feeding and outdoor dog walking, and the average time of outdoor dog walking in the morning and evening is half an hour. ”
In reality, how effective is foster care services?
The reporter searched on the third-party complaint platform with "pet fostering" and other keywords and found that many posts involved the service quality of pet stores and pet safety issues, such as pet foster services suspected of false publicity; Pets get sick by eating spoiled food unattended; The pet dog was bitten during the foster care period and was not timely**; The pet is sick during the foster care period, the condition deteriorates, and the follow-up ** costs thousands of yuan, etc.
Some consumers reported that they adopted a cat in a pet store in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and chose to foster it in a pet store because the cat vaccine was not fully vaccinated and could not go through the formalities such as consignment. However, after the consumer returned to his hometown, he asked the store to "send ** to see the health status of the cat", but the foster store replied "dead", and the consumer asked to terminate the adoption contract and compensate for the loss, but the store refused, saying that "it can 'compensate' the consumer for a pet".
Another consumer said: "I once fostered a cat in a pet store, and it was supposed to be fostered for 15 days, but the cat got sick after 6 days." I had no choice but to ask my friend to pick it up and take it to the hospital for medical treatment and hospitalization. The pet store is not responsible for the cost of medical treatment, the cause of the illness is unknown, and the liability cannot be determined. ”
Previously, it was also reported that some pet stores were hospitalized due to the negligence of pet sitters in management.
In the event of special circumstances during the pet foster care period, the foster care service agency shall promptly inform the consumer, or reflect the true situation through **, etc. If it is necessary to take measures such as injections or medicines, consumers shall also be informed in advance and consent shall be obtained, and foster care service establishments must not make claims without authorization, let alone compel consumption or compulsory fees. Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the China Consumer Rights Protection Research Association, said.
In Chen Yinjiang's view, pet foster care involves the daily care of live animals, food feeding, disease treatment and many other matters, and various problems may arise during foster care, and it is not good to clarify the responsibility for the problem in advance, so once there is a dispute in pet fostering, it is often difficult to solve.
Improve standards and strengthen supervision
Keep your eyes peeled and sign the contract
Regarding the reasons for the frequent chaos in the pet boarding industry, Rao Wei, senior partner of Beijing Tiantai Law Firm and deputy director of the Consumer Rights and Interests Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, analyzed that first of all, there are some businesses in the market that operate pet boarding services without corresponding qualifications; The second is that there is no unified charging reference standard for the pet boarding service industry, and there may be a large gap between the charging standards of different businesses. In addition, when pets are sent to the merchant and exposed to a new environment, there will be a stress response that may have an impact on the pet's health.
In Rao Wei's view, the relevant administrative departments should strictly review whether the business has the corresponding business qualifications, whether the business premises comply with the relevant provisions of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law and other relevant regulations, conduct irregular inspections on the health of the business premises, and suspend business for rectification in a timely manner for unqualified places. At the legal level, pet boarding can be regulated from the perspective of custody contracts, and a legal relationship of custody contracts can be formed between pet owners and merchants.
According to the provisions of the Civil Code, the depositor shall pay the custodian the custody fee, and the custodian shall properly keep the custodian, and the two parties may negotiate and agree on the method of custody, i.e., foster care, and the needs of the venue. The custodian shall not leave the pet to a third person for safekeeping without the consent of the depositor. Rao Wei said.
Chen Yinjiang pointed out that at present, there is no detailed industry standard for pet boarding services. Pet boarding services are special, the service content is difficult to unify, and there are many problems that may arise, so it is also difficult to formulate service standards. Relevant industry organizations and regulatory departments should combine the actual market situation, summarize various problems of pet fostering, and explore the establishment and improvement of industry standards and regulatory systems.
For consumers, if they encounter the phenomenon of arbitrary charges, high charges, and semi-mandatory charges, how to protect their legitimate rights and interests?
Rao Wei suggested that before fostering, it is best for consumers to form a written agreement with the merchant to list in detail the services and charges received by the pet during the foster care period; At the same time, if the merchant intends to add services to the pet during the foster care period, if the service is provided without the consent of the consumer, the consumer has the right to refuse to pay this part of the fee. If the problem cannot be resolved through negotiation, the consumer can file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Association or protect his legitimate rights and interests through judicial channels.
However, in reality, even under the constraints of the contract, pets still face some force majeure factors in the boarding process. A pet industry professional told reporters that pet boarding has a certain impact on cats and dogs, and the impact on cats is even greater. If the pet is more timid, when coming to an unfamiliar foster environment, it will be afraid, sensitive to sound and even produce a stress response, milder is the pet cold, decreased immunity, serious may lead to death, "If you can't avoid the New Year foster pet, it is recommended that pet owners usually let it 'desensitize' when feeding their pets, and try to develop 'anti-stress character'."
In view of the situation that some consumers encounter pets that are sick, need to be ** or even die during foster care, Rao Wei reminds consumers to claim losses through judicial channels, and at the same time prepare the custody agreement signed with the merchant, the communication records during the custody period, and the pet's health information as evidence support, and the judicial department will judge whether the merchant is at fault according to whether the merchant has fulfilled the obligation of careful care, proper keeping, and ensuring the safety of the foster pet, so as to judge whether to support the consumer's claim.